Personal

Baggage Claim Rage

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Update: this wasn’t supposed to get posted on planet.mozilla.org — it’s not in the Mozilla category but planet slurped it up anyway. Probably a feed error after a WP upgrade. 😦

Ever have a hard time finding your damn bag at the airport? It’s probably because there are a bunch of morons standing in front of you. And guess what? None of them are actually grabbing their bag — they are just making it impossible for you to find yours.

Fortunately when I travel I usually don’t have to deal with this since I don’t have a checked bag. But every once in a while I do have to check a bag (like last week). When this happens, I inevitably find myself standing behind 15 people, unable to find my bag. Right about then I tell myself, “I need to write an angst-filled blog about this to add another post to my airport rage series.” Well, here’s a diagram for you:

don't be the asshole standing next to the baggage claim

A few things I want to point out:

  • All the cool people are behind the line
  • Don’t be “that guy” standing right next to the carousel expecting his bag to come out faster because he’s standing closer (wtf?)
  • Everybody wins

Any questions?

How to Really Help the Economy: Tax Drugs

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A Harvard senior lecturer in economics wrote an article on legalizing drugs that I found pretty interesting.

The fact that alcohol prohibition was legalized during the great depression is an important lesson. But there’s a huge difference between drinking a few beers and shooting up heroine.

However, it’s fair to say that legalizing drugs has not been tried. There is a slew of questions surrounding the practicality of such a drastic change in policy, but I wholeheartedly agree that our drug policy in the united states is puritanical and draconian.

Questions I’d have:

  • What would be the deterministic health consequences? Would the toll on the psyche and well-being of society be too much if we trusted people to control themselves?
  • How can you weigh the benefits of reducing the power of drug cartels with the increase in DUI deaths and personal losses for people who will battle addiction?
  • Would this even increase the amount of abusers? People who gamble find ways to gamble, people who do drugs already find ways to do it — is it a myth that everyone would suddenly rush to do drugs?

I think the argument against legalization is based largely on precedent and less on metrics — since a lot of it is just speculation. I don’t have many doubts that we’d be able to save money and increase revenue drastically at the same time — and we could channel a small percentage of funds to education, support and rehab instead of spending so much on enforcement and incarceration.

Think about it.

Seven Things

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Okay, I’ll play along.

I got tagged for this thing by:

  1. Carsten Book – who works harder in one day than most humans work all week
  2. John Slater – creative dude with a good sense of humor
  3. Frederic Wenzel – German engineering at its best
  4. Laura Thomson – web ninja, beer connoisseur, queen of horses

The rules:

  1. Link to your original tagger(s) and list these rules in your post.
  2. Share seven facts about yourself in the post.
  3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
  4. Let them know they’ve been tagged.

Seven things:

  1. I played French Horn for 9 years, from 5th grade until my sophomore year in college. I chose it because my father played it in high school and it had a role in bands that drew me. It’s a great accompaniment, and most of the time you’re playing annoying middle-brass parts — but there are times when no instrument can sound quite as beautiful. Most composers like Mozart and Tchaikovsky used horns for some of the most beautiful solos I’ve ever heard. Where the oboe cuts through the silence like a knife, the horn (much like the trombone) is a mellow strength that hits you with its purity of sound and depth. I loved it. I played in typical concert bands, marching bands and symphony orchestras. I’ve played in Aloha Stadium (where they host the Pro Bowl) many times, Husky Stadium in Seattle, Punahou School, Reser Stadium and a few places in Canada. I own two French Horns, one at home that I got when I was 12 years old and one that I bought off eBay five years ago but only played three times. I just like having it around.
  2. I took Japanese from 5th grade until 11th grade. I learned about 300 kanji on top of hiragana and katakana. I was able to read and speak fairly well but did not practice enough to get over the hump. When I was 12 I went to Japan with my Japanese class and got scolded by an old man in a restaurant (bar-style one with the vending machine meal tickets) for twirling my fork. I fed deer in Nara and loved it. I’ve forgotten most of my vocabulary and kanji but remember the basics and most sentence structure and grammar rules.
  3. I have been a runway model. When I was 19, I won a modeling contest in Honolulu. My mother signed up my sister Kelly for this contest — Kelly is photogenic and has actually done some commercials and ads, but me? Umm… So of course, she signs me up for this shopping mall weird modeling search. Kelly and I were selected as finalists and we had to do this weird pageant thing at Kahala Mall. Well, I wasn’t very happy but I was talked into going anyway. When I was interviewed, I said that I like to try new things and talked about my job as a TA for a 3rd-grade summer science enrichment program at the University of Hawaii Lab School — and had a tongue-in-cheek line about the children being our future. I said something funny after that but I don’t remember. Anyway, I won a $100 gift certificate, free photo shoot, and a 1-year modeling contract with an agency in Honolulu. Over the next year I did one fashion show and was on TV once then I went back to college. I didn’t particularly like the people I met and dropped it. The most memorable parts of the experience: 1) getting to use the same dressing room as some pretty hot models 2) getting my eyebrows sculpted by a photographer, which was not pleasant. Ever since, I’ve plucked my eyebrows. Poorly.
  4. I’ve had plastic surgery on my face twice. When I was a boy, I was pretty unlucky. At six, I was attacked by my neighbor’s dog, and I had to get plastic surgery to repair tears in my lower lip and chin where the dog latched on and shook me until my skin tore. At seven, I slipped off a jungle gym and bit an enormous hole in my lower lip, which paired nicely with the massive cut I opened on my chin. My mother was and still is a nurse at Straub, so I got a good doctor and am lucky that the scars are barely noticeable. She was kind enough to demand a plastic surgeon instead of having the ER doctor stitch up her little boy’s face. Twice. So if you’re unlucky enough to be that close to my face, you can still see those scars. It’d just be a little awkward.
  5. I was a professional video game player for a day. When I was 22 (I think) I entered a Counter-Strike tournament in Astoria and my team won first place. It was 5 on 5 CAL rules. We each won $100.
  6. I can speak pretty convincing pidgin English. Though I was raised to speak like my father, who is from Maryland, I also learned how to speak like my friends in Hawaii to fit in. I also learned a lot of this playing pick-up basketball games at Kipapa park, Mililani District gym, Hokuahiahi park, Whitmore gym and Punahou. In younger days I also played soccer, baseball and tennis with people who mostly spoke variations of pidgin.
  7. I learned how to play basketball correctly in about 3 months. When I was 16, I realized I had no chance of making the team at Punahou unless I learned how to play basketball correctly. I had tried out every year and didn’t make it because I had a funny jumpshot — I pushed the ball with my left thumb and shot from my shoulder. I also could not dribble very well. In the summer of 1995, after summer school, I would play 2-3 hours of pick-up ball a day and practiced drills daily. I transformed my shot, learned how to dribble with my head up, and built up strengh/speed. I made the last cut and was on the team the following winter. After averaging 12 points a game during the preseason, I mostly rode the bench behind the coach’s son that year, but I learned that if you dream it and work hard, you can accomplish anything. I’ll never forget it.

Seven harassees:

Well, I’ve never been too fond of following the rules. Or maybe I don’t have any friends to tag? You decide.

Reclining Airplaine Seats and Your Addiction to Nothingness

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The woman in front of me has her seat all the way back, but I don’t believe the extra 5 degrees is doing her much good.

It does succeed, however, at giving her the illusion of being more comfortable at the expense of cramping my shit. As an added bonus, everytime she moves around, it slams the top of my laptop a little closer. As it is, I can barely read what I’m typing because my screen is tilted towards me an extra 5 degrees to match her seat back.

There are a lot of pointless comforts in life. Sitting here in this cramped plane, I can start off by pointing out that this reclining seat business it bullshit. I obviously have selfish motives but the lady in front of me doesn’t need the extra space, she just thinks she does. And she uses it because it is there.

So how many things in your life fit that mold? What in your life do you mindlessly rely on or indulge in that fits these criteria:

  • You’ve always done it
  • You use it because it’s there
  • It doesn’t really make that big of a difference
  • It has some sort of residual cost to your environment

So I meandered. We are in a society based on consumption and infinite growth. Agent Smith was right on that whole virus analogy, I’m afraid. Small comforts make us waste even more but we don’t usually think about things like environmental costs, cost of ownership or how it affects others or oursevles long-term.

So what comforts fit that category? I’ll take a shot:

  • Bottled water – using a reusable container is just as easy, but if I have a case of this stuff I’m likely to grab a new bottle every time just because it’s there.
  • Fast food – it’s yummy but it’s not really that yummy, it’s just a habit and it ends up costing considerably more given the gas used, packaging disposed of and calories ingested.
  • Cars with more than 300 horsepower – great, you can get to the red light faster, and you feel better about your mangina. But when you’re not showing off how quickly you can accelerate from 0 to 35 when you see a hot chick in the lane next to you, you’re getting shitty fuel economy and a bumpier ride with less legroom for your friends. Is it worth it?
  • Trucks that are more than twice the size of a normal car and can’t fit into a parking garage – yeah, you could potentially tow your entire house or your boat, but for the other 90% of the time you’re wasting gas, can’t find parking and if you rear-ended someone you’d probably ramp off of their car onto another car because your lifted tires are taller than most Asian people. You shine your headlights into the back of my car and drive too fast when the roads are icy even though having a big truck doesn’t do shit for traction. You are ridiculous and won’t admit it, truck man.
  • Costco – I love Costco, don’t get me wrong. But do you ever find yourself wanting to buy 8 of something just because it seems like a good deal? You buy that 2000 pack of AA batteries, the 1 gallon of soy sauce, the 1.5L olive oil. What the hell? You could have grabbed that stuff at a fraction of the cost at Safeway. You know you have mounds of Costco shit in your cupboards that you’ll probably throw away some day. You bought it because it seemed like a good deal, now you have the cost of owning so much of somethign that it takes up a crapload of space in your house for a couple years. Was it worth it?
  • Shopping online – this is a tough one, because I love shopping online. But a lot of the things I buy online I could buy locally for about the same price once you consider shipping. By ordering online you agree to wait, pay shipping and you generate more waste and have a bigger carbon footprint. Do you have a pile of boxes and packing material in your house from all the shit you ordered online? If you do, try shopping around locally a bit — there’s stuff on craig’s list, coupons in the Sunday paper. Then again, did you even need all that shit in the first place? Do you even use it every day? Think about it.
  • Alcohol – I love beer and whiskey. But I don’t need it. If it’s in the fridge or around the house I’ll just drink it like soda, but water does the job just fine. It’s expensive and usually comes in disposable containers that fill up the recycling bin. I am thinking it might be worth home brewing, drinking less and learning how to deal with stress in other ways besides popping open a cold one (all this probably won’t happen, we have our vices).
  • TV – holy shit do people watch a lot of TV. Read a book, assholes! Go volunteer somewhere! Write poetry! You pay probably $50 a month for cable or more and couple it with your internet and don’t even think about it. What if you didn’t have TV? What is the opportunity cost of having HD heaven at your fingertips? I watch a lot of basketball. I could go to a bar with my friends and watch it there, go to a Blazers game instead of sitting at home and watching it or just go join a leage and play it myself (which is more fun in a lot of ways).
  • Video games – I play them, and am aware of how addictive these can be. But for the same amount of time you could volunteer, pick up a consulting job, or just work at burger king. All are more productive alternatives. The kicker is that you’re paying for stuff like WoW. WTF? Last time I payed money to spend that much time doing something was college. If you’re spending more than 20 hours a week on this bullshit, put down the mouse/xbox controller/wii remote and go outside. Adventures await you in real life! You can improve your real life stats and experience! You can increase your own hit points!
  • Designer shit – I’m not sure what compels people to spend $800 on a purse or $10,000 on a watch. But if you have that much extra income, you could probably spend that money more wisely. I’ve found that as I’ve made more money in life I’ve found ways to spend it. Think of how you lived when you made less money and compare it to how you live now. You go out to eat more, buy more pointless electronics, buy nicer things — but you don’t need all of it and could do without.

You don’t benefit much from the extra 5 degrees. And even if you do have some small happiness from your luxuries, they come at a direct or indirect cost. So often we don’t consider the true cost of things. We are the lady sitting in front of me pounding the back of my laptop display.

Don’t be that lady all the time. She annoys the crap out of me and makes it hard to see what I’m typing. Sometimes you have to smack the back of the chair in front of you a few times.

I probably won’t do that right now, even though it’d be hilarious to healthily disrupt her 5 degree bliss. But hey, it’s just a metaphor and I don’t want to be a dick.

Wordle

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Everybody else is doing it, so:

Seems like I’m into politics lately, as many others have been.

Marriage should fall under the First Amendment

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A core principle for our government is the separation of church and state. Tuesday many states showed that the American people believe that it is acceptable to single out a group of people and deny them equal rights. They are wrong.

The ballot measures passed this Tuesday make the election bittersweet. The right person was elected president, and America showed their distrust and disgust with the way things have gone in Washington.

Why, then, such a backwards-facing and hateful election in the state arena? Keep in mind that 50% of the United States was voting for McCain. This after terrorist accusations, false socialism fear mongering, blatant hypocrisy and political scandal all at the forefront of their campaign. For me, in hindsight, the question isn’t why Obama won, but why wasn’t this race a landslide in the popular vote?

Racism? Ignorance? Intolerance? Fear? Discrimination? Fox News?!

They are alive and well in America. Americans everywhere made it clear that they don’t understand the difference between a Muslim and a terrorist. They made it clear that honesty is low on their list of priorities when it comes to choosing a presidential candidate. We learned that the content of someone’s character still competes with the color of their skin or their sexual orientation. And we learned that 50% of this nation is pretty easy to mislead if you say the right lies.

Yet we claim to be ready for change. Yeah, right. Maybe when it’s convenient for us.

We still have a lot of work to do. We have a lot to answer for and a lot to live up to. The conservative movement has damaged us, and tricked this country into abandoning two key values in many areas – separation of church and state and equality.

How can we claim to be REAL Americans when we try to create laws that impose religious beliefs on others? The constitution doesn’t say all are created equal with an asterisk. You aren’t exempt for your rights as an American if you’re Muslim or gay. You don’t make exceptions to these ideals when it suits your homophobia or religious intolerance.

Even in the highest court of our land, Larry Flynt was defended for freedom of speech. Even a pig has rights. And he said something very important that we should remember: “Majority rule only works if you’re also considering individual rights. Because you can’t have five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for supper.”

States should not have the power to trample individual rights. States with homogenized demographics and little or no minority representation should not have the power to amend their constitutions to deprive people of their right to life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness.

So with this marriage thing — what is considered by most to be a religious institution should not be influenced by laws. State and federal rights for married couples should be completely blind to religion or value systems. In fact, in many countries such as Germany this is a clear and obvious line that has to be drawn.

What if someone belonged to a religion where it was common practice to support gay marriage, and it was a part of the beliefs of that church? Would it still be okay to prevent members of that religion from getting married?

The laws passed in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida and California are not really American at all. They subscribe to the same old beliefs that our ancestors ran from when they escaped religious persecution in England. They perpetuate the same hate and discrimination found at the center of our last civil war. These laws tear the fabric of freedom and what our country was founded on.

No matter which way you cut it, those ballot measures are being used to divide us and take rights away from a group of people who should be considered equal.

It’s bullshit.